The pack
by N1ghtWolf
Summary: As Korra struggles with her destiny and inner doubt, she meets up with an boy shrouded in mystery. BUt will he help her on her path or will he only bring his curse with him?
1. Chapter 1

The pack

"Hey I'm going on a ride with Naga" Korra calls up to the guard posted at the gate. An questioned look clearly on his face " And no I'm not going to far." An annoyed look clear on her face. Eventually he opens the gate for her and Korra passes through. "why can't the ever trust me, Aang was only an year older when he ended the war "

When she was finally out of sight from the guards, her spirit lifted up again. She always felt trapped at the compound where everything she did was always controlled by the white lotus sentries. Only when she went on rides with Naga like this she could and felt truly free.

The ride was calm whit an clear sky and small breeze, when Naga suddenly changes course "Hey what's wrong girl. What did you find." Trusting Naga's tracking she led herself be led by the polar bear dog. 'what could have left an trail that got Naga so excited.'

It only took Naga a few minutes to reach the end of the trail. Korra descent from Naga and starts looking around to see what got Naga so excited. At first the only thing she saw some snow hills and caves, not something al too special at the south pole. "There is nothing here girl" but as she was about to remount Naga she spotted an shadowy figure standing upon on of the smaller hills. "You think he sees us Naga." Just as she looked back towards the figure an arrow landed only a few feet away of her.

"What do you and that beast of yours want!" the figure yelled at her.

Not wanting to find out want the man was going to do with them and what he was capable of Korra reacted fast, shooting several fireballs at the figure.

Seeing the fireballs coming from afar the stranger had an easy time dodging them. "so a fire bender at the south pole. That's an new one" he called at her while closing the distant between the two.

Seeing that the distant between them decreased vastly, panic struck Korra and in a moment of pure desperation she shot the largest amount of fire she ever had. Not being able to dodge such an projectile at such small range the stranger was hit dead on. But the force of the blast was too much for Korra to handle as she was knocked backwards.

Recovering as fast as she could hoping to have defeated her attacker Korra's hopes were immediately proven wrong. As in front of here the stranger stood, be it only barely with an arrow aimed straight towards here.

"Call down that beast" he ordered her, as Korra looked at Naga who was about to jump straight at the attacker. "NOW"

"Naga stay." she ordered quickly before something could happen to her only friend. Luckily Naga obeyed her command, although this didn't withhold her from growling and cleansing her teeth at the stranger.

Korra brought her attention back to the figure ones she was sure that Naga wouldn't try anything. She was shocked to see on the place her attacker stood, an boy around her age stood holding an tied grip on the bow. The hood that had covered his face during the fight has been blown of, most likely because of that final blast Korra send to him. This revealed that he was only just a kid like she was. His hair was of medium length, messy and dark brown of cover. she could easily she that he didn't pay much attention to it as it hang down. When she looked directly into his eyes she was shocked. They were grey of color and looked like they hold winter within them, they also had an glow over them that she could only describe as an look of pure cold like nothing she had ever seen.

"I will ask again. Who are you and what do you want?" she was pulled right from her thoughts as he spoke to her and it cost her some trouble to gather herself together.

"My…. My name….. I'm Korra and I was just…"

"You were just what?" he sked her, his voice drenched by calmness and a slight cold undertone. But also thought it held something of curiosity, but she soon dropped the idea as she realized who she was talking to.

"Speak up." Korra was once again shot right out of her thoughts by this boy in as many minutes. "Me and Naga were just on a walk. We weren't looking for any trouble"

"Then continue on with your walk." he basically ordered her.

Slowly Korra walked back towards Naga, not daring to take her eyes of him afraid he would shoot his arrow when she did. She was about to re-mount Naga when something stopped her in her tracks… curiosity. Something about the stranger intrigued her. 'Why am I standing still, I should get the hell out of here now I still can.' Turning around she tries to put on a determined face. "I gave you mine name, but what's yours?"

This caught him of guard and Korra could see this clearly, but he quickly recovers. "that's none of your business." He scowled to her.

This struck an nerve at Korra. "what's wrong with you, can't you be even a little bit nice to someone for on…"

"Shhh". This was the only reaction she got. Now she was done with him. "How dare you to shush me, don't you know who I am"

"you'll be snow Leopard lunch if you don't shut up." Korra followed the direction towards he was pointing to see what he was talking about. And to her dismay she saw a group of eight Leopards making their way towards them.

She froze. 'No, not this everything but this.' Images flew by her in her head, none of her limbs doing anything she want them to do. She could do nothing but to watch the group come closer and closer. Then she saw him running past her directly at their attackers, firing arrows as he sprinted to meet them dead on. 'what's he doing, we should run. He should run.' She stared in disbelief as she saw him taking one of them down before they reached him. Only for him to pull a knife and take the fight to them. 'why is he helping me, defending me. He was about to kill me mere minutes ago. Or was he…'

She saw one of the leopards jump upon him and fear struck her thinking the fight was over. She was only in for an surprise as she saw him dodge the attack by ducking under him, holding his knife up and delivering a nasty gut on the animals belly. Turning around in a blink of an eye he rolled over the body of the wounded animal, stabbing the beast in the trough while doing it delivering the Kill shot. "what's wrong with me. I'm the avatar for crying out loud and I'm afraid to take the fight to some animals. Even an none bender puts up an better fight then I do" She scowled to herself in an hushed tone.

Then out of nowhere she started running. She wasn't going to turn her back on someone who needed her help. She headed straight towards the fight, bending the snow around her to water. Then she came to an abrupt stop shooting the water she bended around herself at the predators as icicles, hitting two and barely missing the boy.

She locked eyes with the boy and saw pure disbelief clearly visible. Unfortunately for him, the fact that Korra could both bend fire and water made him lose his focus. One of the leopards saw this opening and leaped in for an attack. Not seeing the attack coming made that the boy had no way to evade the attack and the predator caught his arm. Farouche shocking the hand back and forth before Korra managed to blast him of with an fire blast.

She quickly took two other of the leopards out with water bending. Seeing this the last of them decided to run for his life.

"WHAO. Yeah you don't mess with us." A smile clearly visible on her face. "hey we actually make a great te…"turning around she sees the boy lying unconscious in the snow. "Are u alright" she screams running to his side. She turns his body around and sees the large wound the leopard bite left on his arm. 'What do I do? I can't take him to the compound he may not make it so long.' She looked around an worried look on her face. Then she spots one of the ice caves. Think fast she lays the boy on the back of Naga and runs towards the cave. Ones there she starts an fire with some of the stuff the boy was carrying with him. 'he sure was equipped for survival. Maybe he got some medical equipment with him?' quickly scanning the bag he carried with him the only thing she found were some bandages. "what am I going to do now?" 'I can try to heal him with water bending… but I never done that before.' She knew she had to handle fast or it would be too late.

Deciding there is no other option she gathers the cleanest snow she can find and brought it to its liquated form. "here goes nothing" as she brings the water towards the wound she doesn't dare to watch, but when an light begins to shine from her hands and she sees the wound slowly healing and skin cover the ones bleeding flesh.

Seeing that the wound was finally healed she took a step back and sat around the fire. Being able to really calm herself for once since she met this strange boy, she felt an wave off relieve fall upon her. Being completely calmed down again she watches the boys unconscious body. To her surprise the face that seemed so cold and hostile to her for this entire time, was now peaceful and even a little bit friendly. "why couldn't be like that when we met?"

"Because I couldn't trust you yet" she heard him say, surprisingly her deeply and making her blush lightly. Not because of the fact that he clearly heard everything she said, but because the commanding cold voice he used to her for this entire time was replaced by a voice that was kind without losing the calmness he had for this entire time. 'Maybe he isn't as bad as he looks'

"And to answerer your question Avatar Korra my name is Tikaan."


	2. Chapter 2

Waking up the next morning as the sunlight entered the cave. Korra stretched her arms looking to see if Naga was out of her slumber already. "Hey girl wake up. "she said shaking the large animal. Even though the animal already was bigger than she self was, Naga would continue to grow and would probably become twice her current size. When the Polar bear dog finally woke up and saw Korra the animals spirit immediate lifted as she began to lick her friend. "Easy girl easy." Korra managed to get out in between laughs "I see you had a good night rest too." she says with a small smile on her face as she continued to pet Naga 'It has been ages since that last happened.'

"So you're having sleeping problems." A calm but stern voice said behind her making Korra jump for a second. Turning around and bringing herself into her fighting stance, she lays eyes on an hooded figure sitting peacefully by the fire. Remembering the events of the previous days she relaxed and went to sit by the fire "Oh it's just you Tikaan. You surprised me there."

"Not the first time that happened…"he said in a soft voice Korra could barely hear, but in what she heard she could detect a small hint of sadness. Picking himself up as fast as he broke down Tikaan pushed on with the conversation. "So you have trouble sleeping? What's the trouble you have, are you afraid or…"

"what ME afraid, of course I am not afraid." She said trying to convince him that he was wrong on that subject. "Are you sure you aren't afraid or anything?:

This struck a nerve in Korra "Of course I'm not afraid. I'm the avatar , I'm not afraid of anything." She barked at him, clearly not approving his tone 'who does he think he is claiming I am scared.'

"Not afraid of anything….. Yeah right." He said with an small chuckle this made Korra only angrier at him as she was almost ready to send an fireball at him. "Everybody is afraid of something."

'But I am not everybody. Like I said I am the avatar nobody can beat me."

"What do you call our fight yesterday then. If I recall correctly I was victorious."

"I …. I was …. You…" there was no way out and she knew it. 'he is right, he won and he is an none-bender above all. I am a disgrace. Her anger making way for sadness and the feeling of failure, as she lowered her gaze and started to stare in the fire.

"But that doesn't say anything about fear." This made Korra look up from the fire suspecting to find him still starring in the fire, but when she looked up her gaze met his as their eyes locked for mere seconds. What she saw in those seconds surprised her even more as she saw his face soften when their eyes met, only for it to return to his normal calm and cold expression and to stare into the fire ones again. 'Did I just see a smile?' Normally such thing wouldn't mean anything, but with Tikaan such thing felt as a great gesture meant for no one but her. "For there are only 2 kinds of people who aren't afraid of anything. fools or liars."

"So you think I am an fool." Korra's depression reaching an new low point as she could barely speak out the words an her eyes began to become moist. She did everything to look strong and even angry at his statement. 'I can't look weak. I have to be strong.' She repeated those lines to herself determined to not break down, not ones looking away from the fire.

She looked up for a second and saw Tikaan still watching the fire still having an calm and mostly unreadable expression, like nothing that was just said happened. 'Please spirits don't let him look up, he can't see me like this. I probably look weak.'

"I never claimed you were a fool, but I do claim that you are a liar."

"How dare you to claim that I am a liar." She once again tried to sound strong but it only came out as a whisper instead of a statement.

"You're not afraid for your own safety that's clear." 'He doesn't even listen to what I say.' "… No you have the honorable kinds of fear"

"How can fear be honorable. And who still uses the word honorable." She could only grind those words through her teeth, as she began to get mad at herself. 'I am a failure and even this kid makes fun of me.'

"when do you think a knight is at his bravest?" This made Korra look up from the fire where she locked with his eyes again . "When he is sure to be victorious or when he or his man are not sure to survive? Only when you overcome your fears you can be brave. That's when bravery emerges."

Korra's was awe struck, and officially impressed. This boy who until now nearly only shouted at her and took aim at her several time, now sounded wiser than any of the members of the white lotus. The only one she known who was probably wiser than him was Katara, and she had seen so much of the world while this kid was barely older than her. 'What has he all been through to end up like he did. He is so cold and calm but then he is also kind of compassionated and…'

"And to answer your question. What is more honorable than to fear for the safety of those you love or you swore to protect before your own safety, that you won't be able to protect them? Or to fear that you will fail in your duty towards the world and mankind." A silence emerged in the cave, while Korra couldn't think anyway to react what she just heard. This kid who knew her for only a day knew her biggest fears no one knew. Everybody saw her as the headstrong, tempered and above all impatient Avatar, but not him.

"… because that is what if I am correct what you're afraid of. Am I right"

Before Korra could even think of an answer or a way to react, she was pulled out of her thoughts by the sound of a horn. Even through it probably was far away she knew right away whose horn it was. 'ohh crap the White lotus. They are probably mad at me staying away for so long.' But when she looked back towards Tikaan , she saw that he was on high alert scanning the surroundings on any possible threats and listing to the most distant sounds. He was about to pull out his bow she quickly stopped him. "Relax it's only the White lotus their only looking for me since I stayed away for so long."

"Why do you think I am readying my weapons." This shocked Korra as she always saw the White lotus as the good guys, annoying but fair. "I recognized the horn immediately"

Then why do you draw? You do know their the good guys right?"

"They ones were ,I can't deny that. But now they only protect and serve those who share their view of the world . Those who have another view than theirs and is willing to step up for it and fight for what they belief in they deem as a tread."

"And that is why your drawing your bow? Because you're on their wanted list or something?"

"Start one riot in the earth Kingdom and they put your head on their wanted posters and spread them to every corner of the world."

"wait they have wanted posters? Why haven't I ever seen one at the compound?" she now really didn't know what to think. 'How can he be the enemy of the White lotus and what does he mean with world view.'

Before she could get an answer she heard footsteps entering the cave. She saw a young guard around the his twenties entering the cave, she recognized him as one of the gate guards and that he was a water bender. She never liked the guy either as he always hold tight to the rules and always busted her to his bosses.

In a blink of an eye the situation changed and turned into a standoff, with the guard aiming an ice shard at Tikaan and he returning the favor with one of his arrows, aiming it towards the guards chest.

"Release the avatar right now scum. I know who you are and what your plans are and the Avatar won't be a part of it." the guard yelled at Tikaan sounding as important as he can.

Korra couldn't understand what the guard meant with Tikaan's so called plan 'What plan does he mean. Tikaan looks more like a nomad who does everything on improve, than the evil genie with an plan of world domination'

Tikaan only took some fun from the guy. "Really than you know more than me, since I last checked I didn't had a plan." He responded mockingly getting on the guards nerve. Korra couldn't help herself as an chuckle escaped her.

Then to Korra's surprise Naga stood up and went to stand to Tikaan's side, barking and showing her teeth towards the guard. Korra could see that this took Tikaan as much as a surprise as it did her. 'Even Naga took a liking at that kid in less than a day. It's just something about him.'

"Hun talking and giving her my breakfast really works. Wasn't suspecting that." She heard Tikaan say out loud towards himself.

"you have done what?" Korra basically screamed at him. 'he better have an good story on what he did to Naga'

"I gave her my breakfast as a peace sign and then I convinced her that I wasn't going to hurt you, and that did the trick." He told with an easy smile.

Korra was dumbstruck by this. "But just how? I slept on Naga the entire night. I should have woken up from that."

Looking at her he just shrugged his shoulder. "I guess you're just an deep sleeper." Doing this he gave the guard the second he needed, and he didn't let that change go to waste. Seeing that Tikaan wasn't paying attention he took his change and shot the Ice shard at him knocking him in the wall.

Seeing this Korra leaped forward on instinct ready to shoot an fireball at the guard, all the while Naga followed Korra's example and charged towards the guards defending her new friend. But the second before their attacks could land Tikaan stopped them. "STOP. I will come with you. I surrender." Even those he was able to bring out strong and determined, even though the pain was clearly evidence on his face. Seeing that the situation was under control he let his bow slip out of his hand before he felt unconscious.


	3. Chapter 3

Silence that was all that was in the cave. A silence like an knife that could cut through steel. As Tikaan's bow slipped through his fingers and hit the ground, drawing what looked like his last breath while his eyes closed.

Breathing wasn't an option anymore as Korra saw the bow hit the ground. Grasping for her breath, she ran towards his side, holding him, shaking him. "wake up… please wake up." Why she was so scared for his wellbeing she didn't know. Maybe it was because she felt she could talk to him freely, without being treated differently. Maybe she just knew that they would become great friend one day. It could be an avatar thing for crying out loud. It sure as hell wasn't because she didn't see him pass out before, it was the second time in as many days. But that all didn't matter, for all she know was that she needed to help him and to do that quickly.

"It's alright. I'm here you are going to be allr….." she stopped as she saw what the damage . Instead of just knocking him against the wall and out, the shard had entered his body. "But how…. Something like that never happens unless…."

Filled with rage she abruptly turned around, looking through the cave. She saw the guard stumbling out of the cave and quickly took off after him. "Naga on me. He is not getting away with this."

Korra and Naga sprinted out of the cave chasing the fleeing soldier. The guard had spotted the rest of the search party and called and signaling too them for help. Reacting quickly she shot a fire blast at the left side of him to make him stumble to the left side. Where he ended up before one of the snow hills. Shooting several ice shards at him, Korra was able to pin him to the side of the hill. Making sure he couldn't get up, she made way to him and pushing him harder against the wall. Bending an flame taking the form of an knife, with the flames making their way from the bottom to the top. Putting the make shift knife on the guards throat, the screams of pain from the guard filling the air. Korra saw the rest of the search party making their way over to them. "Naga hold them of." Naga winced at how her friend ordered her around but did it anyway believing Korra knew what to do.

The screams of the guard slowly turned from screams of agony pain to be filled with fear. Not fear for the death literally laying on his throat, no the fear came from the gaze drilling his way through his head. Filled with pure hate and even a tint of bloodlust that filled and clouded the normally pure blue eyes, who normally were bright as the oceans and always were full with happiness. As the guard looked even closer in the gaze he saw the blue eyes slowly turning white .

"YOU….." the tone…., the tone would be enough to kill any man. But that wasn't her intention. No she didn't want him to get away with this so easy. "you… this was your intention all along wasn't it. You wanted him death, that's why you're here isn't it."

"I…. I… I was just following orders. T.. the kid is on our most wanted list, and … and when he is proposing an threat to anyone especially the avatar are we allowed to take him out…. Permanently."

Hearing this Korra took the blade from the guards throat hen held it up high ready to strike at any moment. All her senses were now focused on her and the scene in front of her. The sounds of the icy wind or the shouts of the search party for her to stop. The only sound she heard was her own heavy breathing. But also the soft prays of the guard.

"Spirits forgive me. Why didn't I just refused the order, I was just scared. It was a kid…. I was afraid and killed an kid for god sakes. But his eyes… that wasn't just a kid." Haring this and looking in the guards eyes, she didn't find eyes filled with terror or determines, to be fair she didn't knew what to expect. When she looked all she saw was guilt and regret. Regret for taking an life, but also regret for reacting so extremely out of fear.

"I can't…. I just can't." lowering her hand she let the fire extinguish. Stepping away from the guard and turning around while letting the shards holding him in place melt away, making him fall to the ground. "I'm sorry." She heard softly behind her as she made her way towards the cave. Followed closely by Naga.

"Where do you think you 're going young lady." One of the search party called after her. Korra recalled him being one of the senior sentries, but she could care any less at the moment. As the only response she gave him was cold gaze before walking on.

Entering the cave she immediately moved to where Tikaan was laying against the wall. As she dropped down towards his side she started to analyses the wound. She was relieved to find that the wound wasn't all too deep and he wasn't penetrated by it. Realizing she couldn't heal him herself she decided to stop the bleeding for now, bending the water from her field bottle and bringing it on the wound. It took all of concentration but she eventually succeeded to stop the bleeding, 'I need to get him to Katara and fast. She will help him, she has to.'

Lifting him up to lay him on Naga's back, she found he was easy to lift and was surprised by how little he weighted. Laying him on the back of Naga and securing him on the saddle, she quickly spotted something was missing, looking back at the wall where she found him, she quickly spotted his bow laying on the ground. 'We can't leave that here, now can we.' Walking over and picking the bow up, she saw symbols and small drawings engraved into the wood. "What's this?" Hearing a small moan coming from Tikaan. ' I look at this back home. I have to be quick.' Mounting onto Naga's back, they ran out of the cave and made their way towards the compound, leaving the search party behind.


	4. Chapter 4

Empty land covered in ice and snow, with nothing in sight for miles on end. As an icy wind raced over the plains, a white blur sprinted in opposite direction. On it Korra struggled to keep her head straight on the event that happened only a few hours earlier. As the near lifeless body laid behind he even after all the effort Korra put into healing the pierce wound the boy received from the ice it still continued to drop small amounts of blood.

Where she normally feels nothing but peace in the silence these barren wastelands bring to her when she and Naga take their walks through here. When she walked here she was Korra just Korra and nothing more than that. Where everywhere else she was the great Avatar, the legacy of Aang and thousands of man and woman before her , here she is just the girl she really is. Here the weight of the world didn't rest on her shoulders. And even though she was never able to connect with her past lives the thought of them alone was enough to hunt her at nights and days.

'no one ever sees me as just Korra. No one but… Tikaan' between the thought of all the terrible things that could happen from now on, this was the one that keep showing up. "Come on Naga. We have to go faster girl." Even though she knew Naga gave everything she had.

As if the spirits had heard her prays as the compound, her personal prison, came into sight. For the first time she can remember she was actually glad to see this place. When she was just outside of view of the watchtowers she redirected Naga to hide behind an small snow hill. 'I can't walk through the gate they will take him captive. So I just sneak in it isn't like haven't done that before. But what then how do I convince Katara to help him.'

"I just have to take the change right girl?' she asked towards Naga who answered with an determined look on her face. She sneaked to the far side of the wall where she knew was an blindside for the towers. Once there she used her bending to create an tunnel underneath the wall. She entered the tunnel first followed by Naga who held Tikaan on her back. She quickly resurfaced when she was certain she passed the wall, and made her way to Katara's house at the south east corner.

As she stood before she slowly opened it to see if anyone was inside. To her relief she didn't see anyone so she turned around and directed Naga inside and closed the door again.

"Korra you know it isn't polite to break into people's home." Korra turned around abruptly and saw Katara suddenly standing before her. "Katara I… I…."

But before she could find the right word Katara saw some blood drops laying where Naga stood and made her way over to the animal. There she saw the body of an boy she hadn't seen around here before. "Korra who is this? And where were you yesterday night., why didn't you come back from your walk?"

Taking an deep breath she started to explain what had happened. " I came across this guy while on my walk yesterday, but we got attacked by wolves and he got his hand hurt badly. So I took him to an ice gave close by and healed his wound . We stayed the night there and the following morning the search party the lotus had send out found us. But Tikaan didn't know they were friendly so he drew his weapon to defend us, so the guard shot him with ice. Know he is bleeding badly and I can't help him so please help."

Katara looked shocked at Korra but that wasn't because of the story but because of the tears that had formed in the young avatars eyes. The last time she saw her cry was years ago and it only happened when there was something with her family. This persuaded Katara to wait with further questions and help this kid. "All right then. Bring him to the infirmary." She said towards the Avatars who faced shot up and where and smile of relief know rested on her face.

"Thank you Katara." She said this towards her mentor as she bowed, before guiding Naga to the Infirmary. As they entered Korra picked up Tikaan from Naga's back and laid him on the examining table. 'You are going to be okay. You have to be.'

As Katara walked into the infirmary she saw Korra standing next to her friend, which made her smile. "Korra can you help me take of his shirt, than I can start with healing the wound ."

A simple sure was the only answer Korra gave. When they removed his shirt and robes they were both in for an shock. As they looked at Tikaan's body they saw that he was clearly underfed as they could count all the bones in his upper body. But what shocked them more than that was the fact that his body was covered in scars. With her medical experience Katara was able to figure out what caused these old wounds. She saw one that she could make out as an pierce wound in his right shoulder, while another one near his stomach looked like it was made by an knife. There were some more scars but she couldn't bring it up to think how this kid ended up with them.

"Korra who is this boy." Asked an still very shocked Katara. But she didn't get an answer as Korra couldn't progress what she saw. How could an boy not much older than her be covered in so much scars, while she has been in training for 8 years and doesn't have any scars at all. "Korra?" This made her shoot out if her thoughts. "I…. I…. I am not sure…" she looked up towards Katara where she saw that she was still shocked because of what she saw, but she also saw concern in her mentors eyes. Ever since Korra lived at the compound Katara always looked out for her, so she was now very worried who this kid was and why he was with Korra. "…. But I know one thing. He is my friend and you need to help him. Please."

Katara nodded and brought out some water and started to heal the wound. It eventually took half an hour to fully heal the wound and she was sure that it won't reopen. Then she another half to heal some old bruises and fractures that never properly healed. When she was al finished and done she was drained as healing all these wounds took allot of her energy. It was a long time since she had to heal any serious wounds since she lived at the compound. "Korra can you please bring him to the patients sleeping quarters. I will bring lunch and tea in a few hours."

"of course Katara." She bowed to her mentor once again, before picking her friend up and bringing him to the sleeping quarters followed by Naga. She laid him in the bed and fetched herself an chair. As she sat down next to him Naga laid at the end of the bed. There the two of them spent the night waiting for their friend to wake up.


End file.
